Deep Fried Frog Legs with the Swamp Chef

This outré entree is not for the faint of palate! The Swamp Chef's latest video recipe are Deep Fried Frog Legs with Remoulade Sauce.

The Louisiana recipe comes courtesy of my nephew, Cajun Chef Matt. When I visit Mom in Louisiana it's always fun to hang out with my family, where we always get busy in the kitchen.

I know you may not find Frog Legs in your local market or even to your taste, but you can substitute chicken or fish, and the creamy and spicy Remoulade Sauce is tasty on any salad, or as a dipping sauce, similar to Tarter Sauce, for your favorite fried fare.

Also, join the Swamp Chef in a bullfrog swamp hunt, but don't worry, it's all in good fun as no amphibians are harmed when the Swamp Chef goes hunting. -- the video hunting scene is more Muppets than Duck Dynasty.

So, my vegan viewers may want to bail after the Muppets-like opening scene, as real Frog Legs are on the menu! But be sure to return and watch the last minute of the recipe video to see a frog's revenge.

 While Deep Fried Frog Legs are not for everybody, it's worth a try, at least once, especially when there is a rich Cajun Remoulade Sauce to go with it.

Matt's version of a Cajun Remoulade Sauce is made with a base of mayo, and the addition of lemon juice, ketchup, mustard, horseradish, chopped green onion and capers. If you like Thousand Island Dressing then you will like a Remoulade Sauce. I easily find all the ingredients at my local Dollar Tree and 99c only Stores!

And surprisingly, Fried Frog Legs are mild in taste, having the texture of chicken with a slight fish flavor. To get a crunchy crust, Chef Matt soaked the frog legs in buttermilk then dusted the legs with flour, simply seasoned with salt and pepper.

If you have a fave fish fry coating or fried chicken batter, then use it.

So check out my latest recipe video, Fried Frog Legs with Remoulade Sauce, featuring the Swamp Chef and Chef Matt. It's all in tasty good fun.

Deep Fried Frog Leg & Remoulade Sauce - VIDEO

Play it here, video runs 9 minutes, 2 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients for Frog Legs

• 2 frog legs - okay to substitute chicken pieces or fave fish fillets.
• 1/2 cup flour - I sometimes use half flour and half cornmeal.
• 1 cup buttermilk - to soak and flavor frog legs. For Homemade Buttermilk, just use regular milk and add a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice, then mix well.
• Salt and pepper to taste - okay to use favorite seasoned salt or spice mix. I like a bit of garlic and onion powder, too.

Ingredients for Remoulade Sauce

• 1/2cup mayo - light or regular mayonnaise.
• 1/4 onion - finely chopped.
• 1 tablespoon capers, chopped - a couple chopped green olives are a good substitute.
• 2 green onions - finely chopped.
• 1 tablespoon Creole Mustard - or any mustard. A good substitute is a whole grain mustard.
• 1 tablespoon horseradish - okay to use less to suit your taste.
• 1/4 teaspoon Louisiana Hot Sauce - okay to use any fave hot sauce -- or just leave it out.
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• Lemon juice - half a lemon or about2  tablespoons of juice.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions
I really did not hunt and skin the Frog Legs in the video above, but got them at my local Louisiana grocery.

First, add buttermilk and Frog Legs to a bowl. Keep them in the refrigerator until ready for frying.

Chef Matt has a deep fryer, so he heated it up while making the Remoulade Sauce. Okay to use a regular frying pan with enough cooking vegetable oil to half-cover a Frog Leg, or about an inch deep of oil in a frying pan or pot.

.Click on any photo to see larger.

For Remoulade Sauce, mix the ingredients listed above in a bowl, including chopped onion, green onion and capers, plus ketchup, lemon juice, hot sauce, mayo, mustard, salt and pepper.

Keep Remoulade Sauce in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Now time to fry the Frog Legs. Add flour, salt and pepper to a plate. Spread out seasoned flour and add soaking Frog Legs to plate of flour. You don't need to drain off all the buttermilk from frog legs as it will mix and make a thin batter for frying.

Cover Frog Legs with seasoned flour, on all sides. Pat and add more flour if necessary.

When cooking oil reaches 375 degrees in temperature add the flour-coated Frog Legs and deep fry them for about 4 to 5 minutes until cooked all the way through.

If you are using a frying pan heat vegetable oil over medium/high heat. Add about an inch deep of oil and heat. Cook Frog Legs about 4 minutes for each side, or until the flour crust is brown. Check doneness by slicing into thickest part of the cooked leg to check for firmness - it should be just like cooked chicken.

When Frog Legs are done cooking allow to cool for a minute or two as they will be very hot right out of oil.

Swamp Chef recommends dipping Frog Legs into Remoulade Sauce and enjoy!

Best Lamb Curry with Vegetables - Video Recipe

My latest recipe is loaded with veggies, too. Lamb Curry with Vegetables starts with a basic meat curry, then when that is ready I add the veggies and finish it up - so, my latest recipe is a twofer: Lamb Curry and Lamb Curry with Veggies.

Curry comes in all flavors depending on the region of origin, from India to Thailand. I am making a simple India-style curry. Even in India, curries vary from region to region.

I make a basic Cheap$kate Lamb Curry with spices, coconut milk, tomato sauce, onion and garlic. All I do is saute the meat and onion, spices, then add liquids, cover and simmer the Curry about 2 hours, or until the lamb is fall-off-the-bone tender.

And I build a basic curry powder from scratch, but if you have access to pre-made curry powder then it's okay to use it. The spices I use are mostly easy to get and include: ground cumin, ginger, cinnamon, and coriander.

It's okay to mix and match my curry ingredients. If you don't have coriander then leave it out. Spices can be expensive, but I'm lucky to have  99c only Stores to shop in.

The main curry powder ingredient is ground cumin, if that's all you can get, then use only that- all the other spices just make the curry powder more complex.

Click on any photo to see larger.

For a richer curry I add coconut milk or cream, and tomato sauce. This adds sweet and acidic layers of flavor. Okay to leave out coconut milk for a light curry sauce. I get both ingredients from my local 99c only Store and Dollar Tree.

For meat, I sometimes splurge with pricy, pungent lamb. You can substitute with cheap chicken or pork.

 Depending on the meat, some cheap cuts of lamb, beef or pork can be very tough, so a 2 to 3 hour simmering time is needed. I leave fat and bone attached, for extra flavor. With long simmering times, some fat will liquefy and the bone will separate from the flesh. Any tough meat will tenderize. Cooking time varies depending on simmering temperature.

This is the kind of curry you can leave heating on the stovetop -- just check from time to time and add more water or broth as needed.

Click on any photo to see larger.

I fill out this Lamb Curry with a lot of cheap veggies that include: onion, bell pepper, carrot and potato.

You can add any fave veggies you like, such as: spinach, kale, cauliflower, squash, and green beans. My local Latin market has great deals on veggies.

After my basic Cheap$kate Lamb Curry is done, I add the veggies and cook another 45 minutes. You can adjust the cooking time if you like veggies crunchy or soft.

I don't make this recipe too often as lamb is a bit expensive, but sometimes I gotta have a Lamb Curry with Vegetables -- damn the price!

Best Lamb Curry with Vegetables - Video

Play it here. Video runs 4 minutes, 46 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients (about 2-3 servings)

• 1 to 2 pounds of lamb  - slice into bite sizes. Okay to substitute any meat, including chicken, turkey, beef and pork.) The balance of meat to veggies is up to you.
• 1 tablespoon cumin powder - okay to substitute cumin with a favorite curry powder  (if you use a pre-mix curry powder, then leave out the other spices that follow.)
• 1 teaspoon powdered ginger - or fresh chopped ginger.
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon - okay to use a cinnamon stick.
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 13.5 ounces coconut milk or cream - one regular size can.
• 8 ounces tomato sauce - one small can.
• 1 onion chopped - white, yellow or red onion.
• 1 tablespoon garlic - chopped (jar or fresh.) Okay to use garlic powder.
• 1 bell pepper - chopped
• 1 carrot - chopped
• 1 potato - chopped. I used a large russet potato.
• 1 tablespoon oil - to saute lamb.
•  1 cup of water or broth
• Salt and pepper to taste

*Other curry spices - garam masala, chili powder and turmeric. About a teaspoon each. Okay to mix and match what you like to make a curry powder, but always start with a tablespoon of cumin.

Directions
Slice lamb into bite-sized pieces. Okay to trim off some fat and remove bone. I like to keep most of the fat and leave bone in for extra flavor.

Add a tablespoon of oil to a medium heated pan. Add lamb and brown one side about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how hot the pan is.

As meat browns, roughly chop one onion. Once meat is brown on one side then add the chopped onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add curry spices, including: cumin, ginger, cumin, cinnamon and coriander. Okay to use a favorite pre-mixed curry powder.

click on any photo to see larger

Salt and pepper to taste, then add chopped fresh garlic or garlic powder. Mix well and saute dried spices and garlic for a minute or so.

Add one can of coconut milk or cream, a small can of tomato sauce, and a cup of water or broth. Mix well and bring up to a low simmer.

Cover and cook until lamb is tender, about 2 hours. Other types of meat may cook quicker. Chicken takes about an hour. Check from time to time, making sure liquid does not cook out. Add a little water or broth if needed.

This is a basic Lamb Curry. You can stop here if you like, I sometimes do.

The idea is to make a simple Lamb Curry with onion and spices, and cook it until tender. Then you add rest of veggies and cook them just enough to slightly soften.

 If you added all the veggies at once, in the beginning, they would cook until way too mushy for my taste.

While Lamb Curry cooks, chop the rest of veggies. After the lamb is tender, add chopped bell pepper, carrot and potato. You can add any favorite veggies you like including: cauliflower, green beans, squash and spinach.

Bring to a low simmer. Cover and cook veggies until they reach desired tenderness, about half hour to 45 minutes.

I like to serve my Lamb Curry and Veggies over rice.

Mom's Shrimp & Rice - Video Recipe

Mom is back and she cooks up one of her family classics for you, it's her Shrimp & Rice recipe. It's so good I had to make a video.

This Tex-Mex dish is the real thing, too. When I was a kid, we lived for a few years on the Gulf Coast in Port O'Connor, Texas with Mom's parents, Big Mama and Big Daddy. He was a shrimp boat captain, so you know there was always a freezer full of jumbo shrimp he would skim off the catch.

We had shrimp fried, grilled, and, of course, steamed in rice with tomato sauce. There was always a pot of pinto beans on the stove top, so beans were mixed into the Shrimp & Rice and scooped up with warm flour tortillas homemade by Big Mama. Boy, was that a filling seafood meal. I look back on it now and realize how good we had it.

Well, I finally got around to getting Mom to make our family recipe of Shrimp & Rice for you - on camera this time.

Shrimp is quite expensive, so it's always a special occasion when Mom cooks Shrimp & Rice. And the grapevine starts simmering when it gets out Shrimp & Rice is on the menu, so expect a lot of drop-ins, like my niece Candyse.

Be sure to watch the video all the way through to check out all the freeloaders, I mean, close family -- including me, the biggest moocher of them all.

The recipe is easy to do, but there is one peculiar culinary twist, Mom learned to first saute the raw rice in oil. Toasting rice is a Mexican technique that will keep the rice from clumping and sticking together, and the rice kernels will split open when steamed. So the rice texture is different than you may be used to.

Mom doesn't saute the rice too long; just look for some of the rice grains to turn light brown, then add the wet ingredients and spices.  You don't want all the rice to brown, or some will surely scorch, then you will have a slightly burnt undertaste.

The other main ingredient is a small 8 ounce cheap can of tomato sauce. Mom adds extra spice with ground cumin and creole seasoning. The Creole seasoning is a nod to her present home in Louisiana.

Click on any photo to see larger.

She also adds dried cilantro. But if you don't have cumin, cilantro or Creole seasonings then leave them out -- I'm sure they did not have those spices easily available to her mom, Big Mama, when she was growing up.

This recipe calls for a pound of peeled shrimp. Now the trick to cooking shrimp is not to overcook them. So she adds peeled shrimp during the last 10 minutes, when the rice is almost done.

You know how expensive shrimp are these days, but sometimes they do come on sale for less than $5 per pound. I even get small bay shrimp at my local Dollar Tree and 99c only Stores. But because Mom has Gulf Coast shrimp connections for free shrimp,  this video recipe is going all out!

If you are fortunate to find raw unpeeled jumbo shrimp then make sure to pay attention when Mom shows you how to peel and devein a jumbo shrimp. Large shrimp sometimes have a gritty black thin vein along the shrimp backbone side. It's easy enough to remove and Mom has all the moves down pat.

Cheaper tiny Bay shrimp don't have a gritty vein to worry about, and if you get peeled and packaged shrimp they are ready to cook.

Removing vein from jumbo shrimp.

Mom's Shrimp & Rice recipe uses more water for cooking the rice than normal. She adds an extra half cup of water at the end, when she also adds the raw shrimp. She is going for a slight soupy finish - kinda like a risotto. We always had the recipe with white rice, but okay to use brown rice.

When the extra water and raw shrimp are added you finish cooking it altogether another 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the rice and shrimp set for another 10 minutes so all the flavors come together.

While you are waiting, heat up pinto beans and a few flour tortillas -- that's the Tex-Mex way. Mom always has a couple of Ziploc bags of Homemade Pinto Beans in the freezer ready to be defrosted.

My recipe to make your own Pinto Beans is a click away, here. It's okay to use any fave canned pinto beans, too.

I gotta give it up to Mom who is so generous to share her family's famous Shrimp & Rice recipe. It's actually a simple recipe made with a whole lotta love and care, just what you expect from my Mom.

Mom's Shrimp & Rice - VIDEO

Play it here, video runs 8 minutes 51 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients (about 4-6 servings with pinto beans)

• 1 pound peeled shrimp - Mom uses jumbo shrimp, but it's okay to use any size shrimp you find on sale, including tiny bay shrimp or salad shrimp.
• 1 cup of rice - white or brown rice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil - okay to use regular vegetable oil. Oil is for browning the rice.
• 1/2 onion - chopped
• 2 cloves garlic - about a teaspoon chopped.
• 1/2 green bell pepper- chopped
• 1 whole green onion - chopped
• 2 1/2 cups water - to steam rice. Start with 2 cups water, then during last 10 minutes of cooking, add half a cup more.
• 8 ounce can tomato sauce - to flavor rice.
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin - optional.
• Creole seasoning to taste - optional.
• 1 teaspoon dried cilantro -  optional. Okay to use fresh cilantro. 
• Salt and pepper to taste - if you use Creole seasoning, it's okay to leave out salt.

First chop the veggies, so you can add them right when the rice is browned and ready to steam.  Chop half an onion and 2 cloves of garlic.

Also, chop half a green bell pepper and one whole green onion.

Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a pot over low/medium heat. Pour in one cup of rice. You want to stir the rice to coat all the grains in oil, so it all cooks evenly.

Stir and saute the rice about 10 minutes (depending on the heat.) What you want is some of the rice grains to be lightly toasted and brown. It is better to under-brown than burn the rice.

Stir the rice as it browns, so it doesn't burn. When the rice is toasted add the chopped onion, garlic, bell pepper and green onion.

Saute the veggies and rice about 5 minutes, to soften veggies.

Pour in the water and a small 8 ounce of tomato sauce.

Now add the spices. One teaspoon ground cumin and dried cilantro (these spices are optional.)

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Since Mom lives in Louisiana she has to add a few big shakes of Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning (again, optional.)

Mix all the ingredients well. Turn up the heat to high and bring the rice and liquid up to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil, reduce heat to low and cover the pot of rice.  You want to cook the rice at a low simmer for 20 minutes.

While the rice cooks, you prepare the shrimp if necessary. You can use prepared packaged shrimp that are already peeled and deveined.

Small Bay shrimp are usually ready to cook, and sometimes even pre-cooked.  If you use precooked shrimp then you add them at the very end of this recipe. All you want to do with precooked shrimp is heat them up for no more than 5 minutes total.

If you are working with unpeeled shrimp it is not hard to clean them. Mom uses headless shrimp with the shell on.  What you do is peel a couple of shell segments on where the shrimp head was. Once a couple of shell segments are removed you can pinch the tail and pull off the segments that are left, along with the tail.

Peel off shrimp shell

Sometimes the shrimp tail breaks-off, so you will have to peel each and every shrimp shell segment.  As with any task, practice makes perfect, so the more you do it the better you get. Again you can use peeled shrimp that are ready to cook. You might want to go the prepared route if you have never peeled raw shrimp before.

Large and jumbo shrimp may have a gritty dark "vein" along the backside of a peeled shrimp. Just slice into the back of a shrimp and remove it. Watch the GIF below to see how Mom does it. Some shrimp have the vein and some don't -- kind of depends how large the shrimp are. Small bay shrimp don't have "veins" large enough to notice.

De-vein shrimp

Because the jumbo shrimp are so large she slices each shrimp into bite sizes. For small shrimp, you can leave them whole, or just slice once or twice to make bite-sized.

Once the rice has cooked for 20 minutes uncover and add half a cup more of water. Add the peeled and sliced shrimp to rice.

Adding extra water during the final cooking phase will give Shrimp & Rice a risotto-like dampness.

Bring rice and water to a boil, reduce heat to low. Cover and cook another 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes turn off heat and let it all just set for a final ten minutes, so all the ingredients blend and flavor the Shrimp & Rice.

You can serve with flour tortillas and pinto beans - that's the way we do it, Tex-Mex style.